The Department of Justice (DOJ) has intervened in a qui tam whistleblower case filed against SpineFrontier, Inc. and related entities and executives for alleging paying kickbacks to spine surgeons to induce use of their surgical devices. According to the complaint, spine surgeons were given over $8 million in sham “consulting” payments ostensibly for product evaluations, when in fact the payments were for use of SpineFrontier devices.

The defendants allegedly created Impartial Medical Experts LLC IME—a purported consulting company—as an entity intermediary to funnel kickbacks to spine surgeons. IME was designed to shield the defendants and spine surgeons from government scrutiny by creating a false impression that surgeons were consulting through an independent third-party entity. The Defendants generally paid “consulting” spine surgeons $500 for a cervical procedure, and $1,000 for a lumbar procedure—but only if the surgeon used SpineFrontier devices. The United States alleges that consulting spine surgeons often performed little or no work beyond implanting the devices—for which they were separately paid by insurers—and that the Defendants did not systematically collect or use feedback from consultants and paid them even when they had provided no feedback at all.

Richard P. Kusserow served as DHHS Inspector General for 11 years. He currently is CEO of Strategic Management Services, LLC (SM), a firm that has assisted more than 3,000 organizations and entities with compliance related matters. The SM sister company, CRC, provides a wide range of compliance tools including sanction-screening.